Rate My Professor Eltahry Elghandour

Eltahry Elghandour is a Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He earned his B.S. in 1983, M.S. in 1989, and Ph.D. in 1995 from Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt. Joining Cal Poly in 2000, he has served the institution for over two decades, progressing to full professor status. Throughout his tenure, Elghandour has been deeply involved in graduate education, advising numerous master's theses on topics including the effect of indentation on sandwich composite structures, performance of multi-composite materials with corrugated cores under compression, single-stage passive vibration isolation systems, and the thermal performance of aerogels in insulation. His teaching extends to undergraduate levels, including hands-on labs in engine components and engineering possibilities programs for middle school students.

Elghandour's academic interests center on the mechanical behavior of materials, composite structures, sandwich panels featuring corrugated cores, vibration damping, structural health monitoring, and ballistic protection. Notable publications include 'Evaluation of the mechanical properties of aircraft composite materials after indentation' (2023), 'Design optimization to improve the performance of the aircraft composite structures' (2021), 'Compression Capacity of Corrugated Core Hybrid Composite Sandwich Structure' (2019), 'Sustainable Earthquake Resilience with the Versatile Shape Memory Alloy Damper' (2022), 'Hybrid Damping System for an Electronic Equipment Mounting Shelf' (1997), and contributions to capstone team formation methodologies (2020). With 31 publications listed on ResearchGate and 68 citations, his research supports advancements in aerospace composites and resilient structures. He supervises Summer Undergraduate Research Program projects, such as ballistic protection with Kevlar composites using additive manufacturing. Elghandour holds leadership roles, including 1st Vice Chair of the SAMPE Northern California Chapter, advises the Cal Poly SAMPE Club, and received a 30-year service award in 2025.